Conventional wireless dog training systems, commonly known as electric fence systems, use a transmitter to transmit radio signals to a dog collar in order to determine the dog's location. These systems can apply various stimuli to the dog via the dog collar in order to train the dog to not leave the electric fence perimeter. Electric fence systems typically operate in the 28 to 433 MHz range as allowed by the FCC or the regulatory agency of the particular county or region in which the system is used. Such systems typically have a fixed set of controls at the transmitter and a fixed number of outputs at the collar with no means to monitor the behavior of the animal or record the effect of the collar's outputs on the animal. The receiver used by such dog collars systems have no capability to send data back to a human operator.
Unlike in the electric fence industry, in the field of wireless mobile device technology, external devices exist that have the capability to send data back to a human operator. External devices, such as heart rate monitors, are capable of providing information regarding the human using the external device back to a wireless mobile device. There are several commercially available protocols that link external devices to a wireless mobile device in real time to provide information regarding the human operator. Such available protocols may include networked, point-to-point and cellular protocols, the most commonly used wireless protocols being Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. For example, wireless mobile devices may be linked via a wireless protocol to external fitness devices that contain human fitness monitoring inputs. A software application in the wireless mobile device analyses the data from the fitness device and provides a human user with information regarding the fitness of the human user that may be useful in structuring an exercise routine.
However, systems involving external devices and wireless mobile devices that relay information regarding the state of an animal, such as a pet, to the human user are far more limited in capabilities and scope, focusing primarily on the location of the animal. One current system uses a smart phone to display the location of an animal-worn device. Location information is determined by a GPS locator in the device and that information is communicated to the smart phone via a cellular network. Another similar system, designed to locate an animal via GPS and display the location with a smart phone, also communicates limited information related to the animal's movements such as the speed and distance the animal has traveled during a certain period of time. Such information is collected at the collar presumably from an accelerometer and from the GPS data stored in the animal-worn device and then transmitted to the smart phone via a cellular network at some later point in time.
Another system, designed to contain an animal within a predetermined boundary, uses high frequency radio frequency coupling of a base transceiver and animal-worn device. Two-way communication between the transceivers is primarily for the purpose of ranging between the transceivers using chirp spread spectrum techniques to determine the time of flight of the signal and therefore, the distance between the two devices. When the animal-worn device is at a distance from the base transceiver greater than a predetermined value, the animal automatically receives a corrective stimulus generated by the animal-worn device. Information available to the human user is limited to what can be surmised by the ranging data, such as number of times the animal has breached the boundary.
Another system is a trackable sticker that can be adhered to an item, such as car keys or a pet, and tracked with a mobile device application. The sticker transmits a signal via Bluetooth technology to a mobile device for the purpose of locating said item via Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI). The mobile device application allows the human user to set an alarm if the item leaves a selected range or comes within a selected range.
Finally, there exists a system, developed by the current inventor, that uses an animal-worn collar to control animal devices via an ultrasonic control signal. (See Bonge, U.S. Pat. No. 5,872,516 and U.S. Pat. No. RE41,629.) This system provides a one-way communication from an animal-worn collar to a remote device but does not allow for the flow of data from the collar to the human operator.
Although these systems can be used for locating animals, there is a need for a system that allows communication between an animal-worn device and a wireless mobile device to facilitate two-way communication between a wireless mobile device and an animal-worn device whereby the animal-worn device has inputs and outputs allowing a human to send real-time training stimuli to the animal and/or to collect useful data in real-time from the animal-worn device.
It is also desirable to create a system and method for a human to establish communication with the animal-worn device for the purpose of training and conditioning the health and fitness of the animal. It is further desirable for the system to allow the human to change and redefine commands or outputs as necessary and to input information pertaining to the specific characteristics of the animal, such as species, breed, size, weight, age and the like. It is further desirable to integrate into an animal-worn device a device to allow an animal wearing the transceiver to control other apparatuses in said animal's environment, for example, an automatic pet door.